Shimon Peres
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Shimon Peres شمعون بيرس שמעון פרס | |
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| President-elect of Israel | |
| Assuming office July 15, 2007 | |
| Succeeding | Moshe Katsav |
| 8th Prime Minister of Israel | |
| In office 4 November 1995 – 18 June 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Yitzhak Rabin |
| Succeeded by | Menachem Begin |
| In office 14 September 1984 – 20 October 1986 | |
| Preceded by | Yitzhak Shamir |
| Succeeded by | Yitzhak Shamir |
| In office 22 April – 21 June 1977 (acting) | |
| Preceded by | Yitzhak Rabin |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Netanyahu |
| Personal details | |
| Born | August 2, 1923 Wieniawa, Second Polish Republic (now Vishniova, Belarus) |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Political party | Kadima (formerly Mapai, Rafi, Alignment and Labor) |
| Spouse | Sonya Gelman |
(Hebrew: שמעון פרס, Arabic: شمعون بيرس), born Szymon Perski on August 2, 1923, is a senior Israeli statesman with a political career spanning more than 50 years. He is currently the President-elect of Israel.
Peres has served three times as Prime Minister of Israel, though only once as the result of direct elections, and has held many significant Israeli cabinet posts including Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, and Defense Minister. Born in Poland, he is Israel's last Diaspora-born prime minister. He has served in the current Olmert government as Vice Premier of Israel and Minister for the Development of the Negev, Galilee and Regional Economy.
In 1994, Shimon Peres won the Nobel Peace Prize together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for the peace talks that produced the Oslo Accords. Peres participated in these talks as the Israeli Foreign Minister, under Prime Minister Rabin. During his career, he has been the party leader of Mapai, Rafi, the Alignment, and the Labor Party, as well as a member of the Knesset for the Kadima Party.
In 2007 Peres was nominated by the Kadima party to run in the election for President. He was elected by the Knesset on 13 June 2007 to be the 9th President of Israel. On 15 July 2007 he will succeed President Moshe Katzav for a seven-year term.[1]
Biography
Early life
Shimon Peres was born in Wieniawa, Second Polish Republic (now Vishniova in Belarus), to Yitzchak (1896-1962) and Sarah (b. 1905 nee Meltzer) Perske[2].
His father was a wood merchant, and his mother taught Russian language and literature. He has a younger brother, Gershon. Interviewed by Mishpacha, an Israeli magazine, Peres said his grandfather, Rabbi Tzvi Meltzer, studied at the Volozhin yeshiva and was a grandson of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin. In Peres's own words, he "had a great impact on my life... As a child, I grew up in my grandfather's home... I was educated by him... my grandfather taught me Talmud. It was not as easy as it sounds. My home was not an observant one. My parents were not Orthodox but I was haredi. At one point, I heard my parents listening to the radio on the Sabbath and I smashed it. I must add here however that in my father's merit, as a child, I received a blessing from the Chofetz Chaim in Radin. My father took me to him." [3]
In 1934, as a child, he moved with his family to Tel Aviv in what is now Israel (then part of the British Mandate of Palestine.) He was educated in the Geula School in Tel Aviv and the agricultural school of Ben Shemen. Peres spent several years at Kibbutz Geva and was one of the founders of Kibbutz Alumot. In 1943 he was elected Secretary of the Labor-Zionist youth movement, and in 1944, he returned to Kibbutz Alumot where he worked as a farmer and shepherd.
In 1947, he was conscripted into the Haganah (predecessor of the Israeli Defense Forces) and was appointed by David Ben-Gurion to be responsible for personnel and arms purchases. In 1952, he was appointed Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Defense and in 1953, aged 29, he became the youngest ever Director General of the Ministry of Defense. He was involved in acquiring weapons and strategic alliances for the young state of Israel. Peres' efforts went superbly well with France as he managed to acquire the advanced Dassault Mirage III French jet fighter, the Dimona nuclear reactor and the tri-national agreement with France and the United Kingdom during the 1956 Suez Crisis.
Family life
In 1945, Shimon Peres married Sonya (née Gelman), who has preferred to remain outside the public eye. They have three children: a daughter, Tzvia (Tziki) Walden-Peres, a linguist; and two sons, Yoni (born 1952), director of Village Veterinary Center, a veterinary hospital on the campus of Kfar Hayarok Agricultural School near Tel Aviv, and Chemi, chairman of Pitango Venture Capital, one of Israel’s largest venture capital funds. Mrs. Peres was recently diagnosed with a serious heart condition.[4]
Peres is a first cousin of actress Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske).[5]
Political milestones in the 1950s and 1960s
Peres was first elected to the Knesset in the 1959 elections, as a member of the Mapai party. He was given the role of Deputy Defense Minister, which he fulfiled until 1965 when he was implicated in the Lavon affair with Moshe Dayan. Peres and Dayan left Mapai with David Ben-Gurion to form a new party, Rafi which reconciled with Mapai and joined the Alignment (a left-wing alliance) in 1968.
Political milestones in the 1970s
In Government
In 1969, Peres was appointed Minister of Absorption and in 1970 he became the Minister of Transportation and Communications. In 1974, after a period as Information Minister, he was appointed Minister of Defense in the Yitzhak Rabin government having been Rabin's chief rival for the post of Prime Minister after Golda Meir resigned in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War. During his position, Peres continued to challenge Rabin for the leadership of the party, however he was once again narrowly defeated in 1977 by Rabin in the leadership elections.
Prime Minister for the first time
He did, however, succeeded Rabin as party leader prior to the 1977 elections after Rabin had resigned after his wife, Leah Rabin, was found to have maintained bank accounts abroad in violation of then-existing Israeli currency regulations. Peres became acting Prime Minister and led the Alignment to its first ever electoral defeat, when the Likud Party under Menachem Begin won sufficient seats to form a coalition that excluded the left. After only a month on top, Peres assumed the role of opposition leader.
Political milestones in the 1980s
In the Opposition
After turning back a comeback bid by Rabin in 1980 Peres led his party to another, narrower, loss in the 1981 elections.
Prime Minister for the second time
In 1984, the Alliance won more seats than any other party but failed to muster a majority of 61 mandates to form a leftist coalition. Therefore, the two parties agreed on an unusual "rotation" arrangement in which Peres would serve as Prime Minister and the Likud leader Yitzhak Shamir would be Foreign Minister.
In rotation with Shamir
After two years, Peres and Shamir traded places. In 1986 he became foreign minister. In 1988, the Labor party led Peres suffered another narrow defeat. He agreed to renew the coalition with the Likud, this time conceding the premiership to Shamir for the entire term. In theNational Unity government formed in 1988-1990, Peres served as Vice Premier and Minister of Finance. He and the Alignment finally left the government in 1990, after a failed bid to form a narrow government based on a coalition of Labor, small leftist factions and Haredi parties.
Political milestones in the 1990s
Leader of the Opposition
From 1990, Peres led the opposition in the Knesset, until, in early 1992, Peres was defeated in the first primary elections of the new Israeli Labor Party (which had been formed by the consolidation of the Alignment into a single unitary party) by Yitzhak Rabin, whom he had replaced fifteen years earlier.
Foreign Minister and the Oslo Accords
Peres remained active in politics, however, serving as Rabin's foreign minister from 1992 and without Rabin's knowledge, began secret negotiations with Yassir Arafat's PLO organization. When Rabin found out, he let them continue. The negotiations led to the Oslo Accords, which would win Peres, Rabin and Arafat the Nobel Peace Prize.
Prime Minister for the third time
After Rabin's assassination in 1995, Peres again became Prime Minister. During his term, Peres promoted the use of the Internet in Israel and created the first Web site for an Israeli prime minister. Peres was narrowly defeated by Benjamin Netanyahu in the first direct elections for Prime Minister in Israel's history in 1996.
With Barak
In 1997 he did not seek re-election as Labor Party leader and was replaced by Ehud Barak. Barak rebuffed Peres's attempt to secure the position of Party President and upon forming a government in 1999 appointed Peres to the minor post of minister for regional development. Peres played little role in the Barak government.
With Sharon and Olmert
In 2000 Peres ran for a seven-year term as Israel's President, in a ceremonial head of state position, had he won, as was expected, he would have been the first ex-Prime Minister to be elected President. He lost however, to Likud candidate Moshe Katsav.
Following Ehud Barak's defeat by Ariel Sharon in the 2001 direct election for Prime Minister, Peres made yet another comeback. He led Labor into a national unity government with Sharon's Likud Party and secured the post of foreign minister. The formal leadership of the party passed to Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, and in 2002 to Haifa Mayor Gen. Amram Mitzna. Peres was much criticized on the left for clinging to his position as foreign minister in a government that was not seen as advancing the peace process, despite his own dovish stance. He left office only when Labor resigned in advance of the 2003 elections. After the party under the leadership of Mitzna suffered a crushing defeat, Peres again emerged as interim leader. He led the party into coalition with Sharon once more at the end of 2004 when the latter's support of "disengagement" from Gaza presented a diplomatic program Labor could support. Shimon Peres is one of Israel's most durable politicians and is currently the longest-serving member of the Knesset.
In Winter 2004-05 the Labor Party decided to hold elections to determine who will lead the party in the upcoming 2006 general elections. As party leader, Peres was in favor of holding the ballot at the latest possible date, and claimed that an early decision would jeopardize both the September 2005 Gaza Withdrawal, and the party's status in the National Unity Government with Sharon. However, the tide was in favor of an earlier date, as younger party figures such as Ophir Pines-Paz and Isaac Herzog took a decisive lead over more established leaders Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Haim Ramon in the ballot to determine ministries in that government. The original date of June 26 proved abortive when massive member registration fraud was discovered only weeks before the date. This caused a delay aided by internal and civil investigations to November 9, 2005.
Irrespective of before or after the delay, Peres continually led in the polls, defying predictions that rivals would overtake him. His bitter exchanges with opponents began when former Prime Minister Barak began backing the holding of primaries early that year, as Amir Peretz and Haim Ramon, two staunch anti-Barak Knesset members vowed to support Peres at any cost to defeat Barak. In a bizarre change of events, Peretz soon declared his own candidacy, a move viewed by Peres as the greatest betrayal.
Though Peres continued to trade nasty barbs with Barak in the newspapers, his feud with Peretz soon superseded that, especially when Barak pulled out of the race in early October. One of Peretz's main charges against Peres was that he neglected socio-economic affairs as a member of the Sharon government, and did not fulfill his statement that Labor had joined the coalition with only the intent of seeing through the Gaza Withdrawal. Peres lost the leadership election with 40% to Peretz's 42.4%.[6]
Joining Kadima
On November 30 2005 Peres announced that he was leaving the Labor Party to support Ariel Sharon and his new Kadima party. In the immediate aftermath of Sharon's debilitating stroke there was speculation that Peres may be chosen to take over as leader of Kadima. Most senior Kadima leaders, however, were former members of Likud and indicated their support for Ehud Olmert as Sharon's successor [7].
Labor reportedly tried to woo Peres back to the fold. [8] Peres announced, however, that he supported Olmert and would remain with Kadima. Media reports suggested that Ehud Olmert offered Peres the second slot on the Kadima list, but inferior cabinet positions to the ones that were reportedly offered to Tzipi Livni. Peres had previously announced his intention not to run in the March elections. Following Kadima's win in the 2006 general election, Peres was given the role of Vice Prime Minister and Minister for the Development of the Negev, Galilee and Regional Economy.
President of Israel
On June 13, 2007, Peres achieved his goal of being elected to a national office outright, when he was elected President on the second ballot. He was elected on the second ballot with the support of 83 out of 120 members of the Knesset as the only remaining candidate. The two other candidates, Reuven Rivlin from Likud and Colette Avital from Labor withdrew from the race and endorsed Peres following the first ballot. [9] He will take office on July 15, 2007.
Political views
Peres was at one time considered something of a hawk. [10] He was a protege of Ben-Gurion and Dayan and an early supporter of the West Bank settlers during the 1970s. However, after becoming the leader of his party his stance evolved. More recently he has been seen as a dove, and a strong supporter of the notion of peace through economic cooperation. While still opposed, like all mainstream Israeli leaders in the 1970s and early 1980s, to talks with the PLO, he distanced himself from settlers and spoke of the need for "territorial compromise" over the West Bank and Gaza. For a time he hoped that King Hussein of Jordan could be Israel's Arab negotiating partner rather than Yasser Arafat. Peres met secretly with Hussein in London in 1987 and reached a framework agreement with him, but this was rejected by Israel's then Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir. Shortly afterward the first intifada erupted, and whatever plausibility King Hussein had as a potential Israeli partner in resolving the fate of the West Bank evaporated. Subsequently, Peres gradually moved closer to support for talks with the PLO, although he avoided making an outright commitment to this policy until 1993.
Peres was perhaps more closely associated with the Oslo Accords than any other Israeli politician (Rabin included) with the possible exception of his own protege, Yossi Beilin. He has remained an adamant supporter of the Oslo Accords and the Palestinian Authority since their inception despite the First Intifada and the Al-Aqsa Intifada. However, Peres supported Ariel Sharon's military policy of operating the Israeli Defence Forces to thwart suicide bombings. Peres' image is an unusual blend of visionary dreamer and ruthless and opportunistic wheeler-dealer. The former aspect of his image is more widely perceived internationally, while the latter is more commonly seen among Israelis.
Often, Peres acts as the informal "spokesman" of Israel (even when he is in the opposition) since he earned high prestige and respect among the international public opinion and diplomatic circles. Peres advocates Israel's security policy (military counter terror operations and the Israeli West Bank barrier) against international criticism and de-legitimation efforts from pro-Palestinian circles.
In 1997, he founded the Peres Center for Peace. He is interested in nanoelectronics, and speaks Hebrew, English and French fluently.
Works
Shimon Peres is the author of several books, including:
- The Next Step (1965)
- David's Sling (1970) (ISBN 0-297-00083-7)
- And Now Tomorrow (1978)
- From These Men: seven founders of the State of Israel (1979) (ISBN 0-671-61016-3)
- Entebbe Diary (1991) (ISBN 965-248-111-4)
- The New Middle East (1993) (ISBN 0-8050-3323-8)
- Battling for Peace: a memoir (1995) (ISBN 0-679-43617-0)
- For the Future of Israel (1998) (ISBN 0-8018-5928-X)
- The Imaginary Voyage : With Theodor Herzl in Israel (1999) (ISBN 1-55970-468-3)
Quotations
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- "When you win a war, your people are united and applaud you. When you make peace, your people are doubtful and resentful."
- "If you want to serve the future, don't be afraid to belong to a minority."
- "A godless man is not a human being."
- "If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem but a fact that must be coped with." * "Television has made dictatorship impossible but democracy unbearable."
- "The president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map." [11] (May 8, 2006)
- "Iran is a great problem, but not necessarily a great country. In fact, I think it is a very weak country." - [12] (Nov 29, 2006)
- "An optimist and a pessimist die the same way; they only live differently. I prefer to live as an optimist" - interview with Benny Hinn on a TV program aired on March 22, 2007
References
- ^ "Peres elected President". JPost. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
- ^ "Volozhin Guestbook Archive". Eilat Gordin Levitan. 2003-03-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Volozhin Guestbook Archive". Eilat Gordin Levitan. 2003-03-16.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Sonia Peres regains consciousness". Ynetnews. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
- ^ "Peres: Not such a bad record after all". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2007-05-31.
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4423676.stm
- ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/667051.html
- ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/667313.html]
- ^ Peres elected Israel's president 13 June 2007
- ^ http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=591
- ^ http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1145961301962
- ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061130/ap_on_re_us/peres_yale_3
External links
- Shimon Peres - Knesset page
- Peres Center for Peace website
- Shimon Peres biography at the The Nobel Prize Foundation
- Biography of Shimon Peres at Zionism and Israel Information Center Biography Page
- Shimon Peres biography at the Jewish Virtual Library
- BBC - Sharon seals new Israel coalition
- Peres's metaphysical propensity to lose by Matthew Wagner, published in the Jerusalem Post, November 10, 2005.
- Former Labor Leader Shimon Peres Heading For Sharon's new party - recorded Report from IsraCast.
- Shimon Peres speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations about the Israel/Lebanon conflict on July 31, 2006
- Shimon Peres speaks at Cornell University - "A Conversation with Shimon Peres"
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